


Twist of Fate

by Kattwyllie



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Explicit Language, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:42:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26002102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kattwyllie/pseuds/Kattwyllie
Summary: Alex reappears from Witness Protection when you thought she was dead, little does she know you have on big surprise for her too.
Relationships: Alexandra Cabot (L&O: SVU)/Reader
Kudos: 20





	Twist of Fate

To say it had been an exhausting week would be the bare minimum, you were more than relieved when the last dish was cleaned, your wine was poured and you were finally able to collapse back onto the couch. You’d barely swallowed down your first sip when there was a knock at the door, your brows furrowed, glancing down to your phone, it wasn’t extremely late, but you certainly weren’t expecting any visitors. Grumbling out a sigh, you shoved off the couch, padding over to the door, carefully pulling it open.

To be completely honest, you weren’t even sure which emotion coursed through you first at the sight of Alex Cabot standing in your door frame. You sputtered for a minute, tears bursting into your eyes, shaking your head slightly, thinking you had to be dreaming. Alex was dead…wasn’t she?

“I…wha…Alex?” Her face slightly fell, glancing down at the floor quickly,

“I…should have called first. Sorry…” It was when she finally spoke, that silvery voice hitting your ears for the first time in years that you realized she was actually standing in front of you, that she was real, not some figment of your imagination. 

“Should have called?!” The anger was shifting through to your frontal emotion, your voice raised louder than you’d meant it, you backed from the door, risking a quick glance down the hallway. “What the fuck?! Where the _hell_ have you been!? I…I thought you were _dead…everyone_ thought you were dead…” Despite the anger burning through your veins you couldn’t help the tears pooling in your eyes, just daring to make their escape over your cheeks. 

You’d never forget the day Olivia and Elliot showed up at your shared apartment, grief written across their faces, telling you that Alex had been shot, that she didn’t make it. You’d collapsed in a fit of sobs that wracked through your body so intensely you ached for days, Alex was the love of your life, you’d been inseparable since you met nearly 3 years prior. When she was ‘killed’ you lost a part of yourself, a piece of your soul, a chunk of your heart was taken from you that would never be replaceable. The mourning took over your life for nearly a year, you knew there was no one else who could even come close to comparing with just how much she loved you, you knew there was no way you’d ever be able to share your heart with anyone else as intimately as you had with her. You were utterly and completely shattered.

“I’m sorry…Y/N…they gave me no choice.”

“Who?!” Your slight outburst gained a door in the hallway rattling open, a glare coming from the older couple living down the hall, rolling your eyes you ushered Alex into the apartment, shutting the door behind her. “What the hell happened?”

“Connors…had a bounty out for me. They put me in Witness Protection after the shooting.”

“So why show up out of nowhere now?!” Alex noticed the way your voice was hushed now that you’d moved further into the living room, the way your eyes kept darting down the hallway, she was starting to think she’d definitely made a mistake just showing up at your door.

“The hitman died in prison, and Connors was extradited. I got the notice last week that I could come back. You’ll never imagine how incredibly sorry I am, I _begged_ them to let me tell you, to give you some kind of hint, _anything_ to help relieve the pain.” You ran a hand over your face, pushing your hair back, while your other arm wrapped around your core in an attempt to keep it together, taking a rather large swig out of the wine glass sitting on the table. A shaky breath escaped your lips, tears brimming while you stifled a cry, all Alex wanted to do was wrap you in her arms but she held back.

“God…I can’t believe this.” You wouldn’t quite meet her eyes, still not fully trusting this was actually happening, “I was at _your grave_ on Tuesday…” That did it, finally looking across at her, tears slowly falling across your cheeks, “We left forget me nots…” Alex practically lost it at that, Tuesday had been your anniversary, had she been here you would’ve been celebrating an incredible eight years together. She found herself nearly at a loss for words, her ever articulate vocabulary lost in a sea of emotions.

“There wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t think of you…”

“You have no idea how much I missed you…” You hesitantly moved towards her, scared that the moment you touched her she’d vanish into thin air and you’d be crying alone in your living room. 

Your hand reached out, grasping hers gently, taking the time for the relief to take over when you could feel her warmth, quickly wrapping your arms around her, burying yourself into her shoulder. Alex felt her body relax against yours, pulling your tightly against her, a hand submerging into your hair, relishing in the embrace she had been missing for years. She could feel the soft cries leaving your body, tears leaking down her cheeks at the feel of you in her arms again, the warmth of your body melting the cold of the past five years isolated alone. A small thud echoed through the apartment, causing you to jump out of her arms, quickly wiping your eyes.

“Shit…” You muttered, your attention on the hallway once again. Alex felt the regret seeping in for showing up completely unannounced, her assumption of someone else being in the apartment was correct.

“I..I should go..” Her voice was quiet, you could practically hear the defeat in it.

“No..just…give me a second.” You disappeared into the first bedroom, Alex could hear your voice, and muffled replies from the other person. “I thought we agreed on no food in bed…where did you even get an Uncrustable from?!” A small smattering of noise, a lamp flicked on in the bedroom, “Jesus…how is it possible that you got jam _everywhere_?” Alex was shocked when you crossed the hallway with a little girl in your arms, the kitchen was open into the living room, a small breakfast bar was the only thing separating the rooms. You sat the girl down on the counter beside the sink, dampening a dish cloth as you started to wipe the stickiness off her hands, arms and face. 

“Momma…” She not so quietly whispered to you, “There’s an angel in the living room.” You shot her a look of perplexity, glancing back at Alex.

“No baby…that’s just Alex.” You concentrated on a particularly stick spot somehow half buried in her hair line.

“But you said Mommy went to live with Gramma in heaven…” The other woman felt a new set of tears springing into her eyes for a completely different reason now, the two of you had been trying to finally start a family right before everything exploded. Your movements froze, glancing between the two of them for a second, realizing what you’d have to try to explain to the four year old. 

“I…do…you remember how I told you that a bad man hurt Mommy?” The little girl nodded, “She was actually okay…but she needed to hide from him until he was gone to make sure she would be safe.”

“Like in Snow White? When she ran away from the Queen?” You heard a soft laugh from Alex at that.

“Yeah baby…just without the apple.” You surveyed her quickly, making sure you’d gotten all the jelly off before you wiped her hands dry with a towel.

“Can I say hi?” That whisper was at least somewhat quiet, more timid, a little unsure of everything going on.

“Of course.” You kissed her head gently as she wrapped around you, crossing back over to Alex. When your eyes met you were both struggling to hold back tears, there was no way either of you had expected a curve ball like tonight was throwing you. “This is Emma…” Your voice had a slight vibration to it, unsure about how this introduction was going to go.

“Hi Emma…” Alex greeted her softly, not able to help the small smile spreading on her lips.

“Hi Mommy..” God did she ever fucking melt at that, heading Emma’s adorable voice calling her ‘Mommy’ something she’d wished for years to be able to hear, never did she think this was possible. “Is the bad man gone?”

“He is.”

“So you can come home now?” Alex glanced to you, taking in the smile on your face, the reassuring nod you gave her.

“Yeah baby…I can…”

“Good.” Emma clambered out of your arms, wrapping her little frame around Alex with zero hesitation in the tightest hug she could manage. Alex felt her heart grow three sizes at the bear hug, holding her daughter tightly. She’d thought that the news of being able to come out of protection was a surprise, this one certainly was much bigger, and honestly, much better. Emma’s head pulled back a smidge when she felt your hand soothingly rub her back, nails slightly tickling to get her attention. “Do I need to go back to bed?” She asked quietly, directing the comment to you.

“You know you do. You’ve got pre-school tomorrow.” Emma gave Alex another tight squeeze, 

“G’night Mommy.” was murmured into her neck before she was passed back to you. You made it two steps away before Emma let out a yell of _‘wait’,_ pushing her way out of your arms to the floor. You thought she was going to run back to Alex, but she made a beeline for the bookshelf, tugging out a thick journal. She trotted back to Alex, handing her the book, “This is for you.” She then grasped your hand, letting you put her back in bed much easier than you’d thought she’d go down.

Closing her door gently, you noticed Alex on the couch, not even bothering to wipe away at her tears, her attention on the book Emma had handed her. You quickly grabbed a second wine glass and the bottle from the counter, moving to sit beside her, pouring her a glass as she looked up at you, a million questions and thoughts written on her face.

“My…therapist thought it would be a good idea to write to you, especially once the pregnancy started. I figured it was the best place to save all the trinkets…once Emma was old enough to figure things out she wanted to be part of it too.” Alex’s fingers delicately flipped through the pages, it began with your writing scrawled across the pages, there were a few ultrasounds taped to the pages, pictures from Emma’s first day in the world, her tiny hospital band, an array of photos of the two of you over the years. There were a few folded up ‘paintings’ of Emma’s that were really just smudges on a canvas, until her drawings actually started to make sense. More importantly, there was a letter from you for every single day she’d been gone.

“I…I thought we used the last embryo…” You took her hand gently in yours, 

“We used _my_ last embryo…The clinic called two weeks after you…left, they had one remaining…of yours..” You took a shaky breath, “There was no way I wasn’t going to do it. With you gone, I thought at least I could have a little piece of you in my life, a little reminder of the love of my life…”

“She’s really…”Alex glanced towards the closed door, 

“That’s all you baby…I means she’s four and she can already say obfuscate..and she knows what it means…” She shot you a perplexed look, wondering where Emma would have even heard the word, you gave her a sly grin, “Liz may have been helping out with the babysitting…” She let out a small laugh at that. Of course, Liz had always taken a liking to you, she’d been fully supportive of your relationship, commenting that you kept Alex grounded when she needed it the most. 

“I..definitely didn’t expect to come home to this.”

“But…you are _home_ …right?” Glancing up she caught the edge of fear in your eyes, “Please…Alex, please stay the night. If I wake up tomorrow and you’re not here I’m gonna think I had some sort of fever dream and none of this was ever real…” She pulled you into a tight hug, kissing your head gently, murmuring against your supple skin.

“I’m never leaving you again. I promise.”

The rest of the evening was spent tangled in each other, polishing off the bottle of wine while Alex flipped through not only the journal, but practically every photo album or scrapbook you had in the house, eager to catch up on the lost time. She asked a million and a half questions about Emma, apologizing that she’d missed out on so much of her daughter’s life, needing to know just about every little fact about her. You were more than happy to retreat to the bedroom with her, the bed finally didn’t feel so cold, so lonely as you curled up against her, the steady beat of her heart lulling you into a gentle sleep.


End file.
